‘Virgin births’ to become a reality soon?

An Indian-origin research geneticist who pioneered a celebratory work on eccentric creatures capable of reproducing without sexual contact has claimed that humans too are on the course for sexless reproduction in future.

LONDON: An Indian-origin research geneticist who pioneered a celebratory work on eccentric creatures capable of reproducing without sexual contact has claimed that humans too are on the course for sexless reproduction in future.

Aarathi Prasad from Imperial College London suggests that humans could well be looking at a future where babies are born without any sperm donors, let alone contact between the sexes.

Her book 'Like A Virgin' explores a fundamentally serious theme we human beings are in control of our own destiny and there is nothing sacred or special about life itself.This is so because we live in a world where science means we can manipulate everything , even the process of reproduction, the Daily Mail reported.

The central tenet of Aarathi's story is that virgin births are now almost within the grasp of science.An artificial womb — a plastic container specially designed to hold fluids and bacteria found in natural wombs, has already been pioneered in Australia.

Aarathi says it will one day be technically possible for a man to develop a child in one of these 'wombs' without the co-operation of any female partner. She points out that science has already developed artificial sperm. And that such sperm has produced offspring. How far behind can be the synthetic egg?